The Princess
by Arilyne of Gallifrey
Summary: It was said he was the last of the Time Lords, after his people's end in the last great Time War. But is the Doctor truly alone? Perhaps he's underestimated his own kind. His people have survived, and some one is looking for him...
1. Chapter One: Leaving

Hello there! I'm going to warn you - this is the first Doctor Who fan fic. And I most definitely don 't know everything there is to know about Doctor Who, but I do try to research things I use so I'm at least somewhat informed.

I'm trying a new style of writing with this story, and I am not used to it. I apologize if it's a bit awkward at times. Not only that, but for some reason, FF.N doesn't let me use tabs. I don't understand why, to be honest, seeing as tabbing the first line of a paragraph is grammatically correct (do we not like grammar here...?), but the point is I can't change it. I know double spacing between paragraphs can substitute tabbed paragraphs, so I guess I can just deal with it. I'm sorry that you, my dear reader, don't get to read the story as it's meant to be. Please forgive me.

But still, I would greatly appretiate it if you would comment. I love criticism, so long as it's constructive. I want suggestions on how to make my writing better, not 'I didn't like your story so I think you suck!' If you're going to tell me you hate me and my writing, please give me a good reason why. Thank you.

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own __Doctor Who__. I do not own Time Lords. I do not own Gallifrey. (Though I wish I did.)_

Enjoy.

**The Princess**

_Chapter One - Leaving_

_It was dark. It was so dark. She could barely even move in that tiny space. But she could hear things - horrible, terrifying things! - things that no person should ever have to hear. Her cheeks were soaked with silent tears. She could hear them. They were coming. Closer, closer. She couldn't stay there! They'd find her! She had to go!  
__  
But she'd promised she'd stay.  
__  
But if she did they would find her!  
__  
But her father was coming.  
__  
But he hadn't come! And they would find her! And who knew what they would do!  
__  
She pushed the door open, knowing exactly what she would do, exactly where she would run--  
__  
It was there! Right in front of her! Looking at her! And it spoke - such a horrid voice - speaking to her - teasing her - threatening her! She screamed, trying to get around it-  
__  
'No! Please, no! Let me go! Please, please! No!'__  
_"... -o... No! No!"

Her eyes snapped open. The world was blurry. Tears had puddled in her eyes, running every few seconds down her face when the puddle became to large to stay there. Her chest was heaving with strained breath, her body covered in a cold sweat, trembling from both fear and cold.

Cold. Oh, it was so cold...

But it wasn't a threatening cold. It felt more like a breeze, intensified by the moisture on her skin. Yes, a breeze...

It took her a minute to realize that she was in her bed.  
It took her another moment to realize she was on New Gallifrey.  
It took her barely any time at all to realize she was alive.

Alive. The word sounded so nice, she thought as she rolled over, pressing her face to her pillow to dry her tears. Alive, and on New Gallifrey.  
New Gallifrey, she thought. New Home...

It was the gentle nudge on her side that opened her eyes this time. Amiyl stared at her with glowing yellow eyes. She smiled at the panther-like creature weakly, petting his head.

"It's alright. It was just a dream." She said softly. She closed her eyes, whispering to herself this time.

"It was... just a dream..."

And she sat there, for a long time. She tried to sleep. But night after night the same dream haunted her, and night after night, like a child, she couldn't sleep for fear of the dream returning. She heaved a sigh. She couldn't stay there. She knew it would haunted her until she found out. She though of what Kalie had said. Yes, she'd leave.

Tomorrow, she would leave New Gallifrey. She would leave New Home.

...: ? :...

The people had counted nineteen years since Gallifrey had fallen and been destroyed in the last great Time War. There had been four years until they had found the abandoned planet Arydiir. And then another six years until they had claimed the planet their own, rebuilding the Citadel, greater than it had been before. They renamed the planet New Gallifrey, and they began again.

And then, in the fourteenth year since the end of Old Gallifrey, she came to them. No one knew who she was, or where she was from. But she was one of them, that they knew for sure. And she was beautiful. But she gave them no name, nor any explanation at all. She just appeared one day, materializing in her TARDIS right in front of the Capitol.

They named her the Princess, for they were certain she was one. She was beautiful and regal, polite and intelligent. That is, when she spoke, for she rarely spoke.  
She was a member, now, of the new High Council. She knew things that none of the others knew. She saw things that none of the others saw. And she was beautiful...

But the Princess was not happy on New Gallifrey. Indeed, she never had been. There had always been something that she'd wanted, something that her life on New Gallifrey could never give her. She'd searched for it before she'd gone there. That had been _why_ she'd gone there, to find it - _him_.

There was one person she considered her friend on New Gallifrey, a girl by the name of Kalie. It had been Kalie that first noticed how unhappy she was. And it had been Kalie's idea to leave New Gallifrey. She wanted an adventure, and the Princess wanted to find someone. Two birds with one stone, they agreed. And in the nineteenth year of New Gallifrey, they left.  
_  
_And thus the story begins...


	2. Chapter Two: Nydiir

The Princess

Chapter Two: Nydiir

_"If anything happens, stay with the TARDIS."_

The words echoed in Kalie's head, over and over. That was what Arilyne had told her, first thing when they'd started their adventure. She sighed. She'd thought Arilyne was kidding...

But now, they were stuck on the planet Nydiir.

It was a nice enough planet. The people were kind, if not a bit unusual. They all had silver hair and blue eyes, and their skin sparkled. And they loved parties. Every day, it seemed, there was a party and a banquet. And there wasn't a piece of cloth on the planet that wasn't silk. Brightly coloured silks hung from ceilings, covered walls and windows, pillows and beds. Even their clothes were made entirely of the fine cloth.

And they worshiped Nylle, goddess of wisdom and healing. Their Temple was the largest, most elegant building Kalie had ever seen. They had prophecies, too, that said their goddess would come to them, to help the people when they deserved it most. That was how they'd gotten stuck. Arilyne had looked so different from them, with her dark hair and mismatched eyes, that they'd though she was their goddess. They took her to the Temple, and kept her there.

Arilyne helped the people of Nydiir, now. Kalie had gone to see her once - in disquise, of course. They didn't talk to her, she told them. It was forbidden to speak to the Goddess. But she enjoyed helping them. Arilyne had apologized to her. She didn't know when they would be able to leave again...

Kalie sighed. They'd spent a year on Nydiir. The main room of the TARDIS was even decorated in the Nydiirian fashion. There was silk hanging everywhere, silken pillows, and it always smelled of roses and sage. She didn't mind it, but she was starting to get bored.

"Arilyne, I want to leave..." She called out. But her friend couldn't hear her. The TARDIS was quite a way from the Temple. "We cannot stay here forever..."

...: ? :...

Arilyne smiled at the woman as she let. She helped countless people like her, every day. That was her life on Nydiir. She helped people. Always silently, of course, accepting nothing in return. And she liked it. It made her feel... acepted.

Of course, she was also very lonely...

The tradition wat that no one ever spoke to the Goddess of Nydiir. When they needed something, they always had a priest write their request in special symbols. Not that it matered to her. The TARDIS translated it anyway.

That day had been a particularly busy one. Fourteen people had come to see her in the last hour alone, asking for relationship advice, blessings, healing - everything. She was tired. She always woke at dawn, and now, as the two moons of Nydiir began to reach out into the sky, she felt the full effects of fatigue wearing on her.

She yawned. The priests must have noticed. They rose from their places, moving to shut all the doors.

"Wait! Please wait!"

Arilyne was suddenly aware of what was going on around her, the sound of the voice frightening away all weariness.

It was a priest of the Temple, one she'd noticed hadn't been there the last few days. And he was carrying a woman in his arms, running into the Temple. He was very pale, she thought, and looked panicked and frightened. He didn't even seem to notice the other priests.

"Please!" He gasped, dropping to his knees before her. Arilyne's eyes went wide. It was the first time she'd been spoken to since she'd ended up there. "Please help her!"

Shaking her shock away, she leaned forward to examine the woman. She most certainly looked like there was something wrong with her.

"She just had a child," The man gasped, "And she suddenly became very ill, and--"

Arilyne had held her hand up to stop the priests that were closing in on them, not to stop the man from speaking. But it worked all the same. She beconed a priest, signaling for him to bring a plant she'd been offered earlier that day, one that she knew held medicinal properties. It was a simple thing to fix, for her. In half an hour the woman was fine again - unconscious, but just fine. The man bowed to her over and over before he left, carrying the woman. And then the priests left, and once again she found herself all alone.

But she couldn't sleep that night. _Please!_ It echoed in her head. Except for one or two messages from Kalie, it had been the only words spoken to her in a year. _Please..._ And when she closed her eyes, she saw his face. I was so familiar...

...: ? :...

The priest returned to the Temple in a few weeks. Arilyne knew that the other priests were unhappy with him. He'd spoken to the Goddess; that was a crime. But he stayed, working at the Temple. And she always noticed him now. She looked forward to seeing him in the mornings. He was the one who brought the writings to her that introduced the guests and what they wanted. When he was there, she found herself watching him. She couldn't take her eyes off him.

He was handsome. His silver hair was uncut, held back in a pony tail in the traditional fashion of Nydirrian priests. But his eyes were a lighter blue than most she'd seen on the planet. And he had nice features, she thought. He reminded her of a man she'd once known, on Gallifrey. His name was Kiel, she found out.

Three months passed like that. He'd come every morning, and she'd watch him. And then one day he wasn't there. She was disappointed. She'd come to enjoy his being there. The day seemed slower without him there, bland and uneventful. Help this man with his back pains, give that woman advice on what to do wtih her life. The same old boring things she did every day. And today bored her more than most. She barely focused at all on what was happening.

Then the priest who had replaced Kiel bowed, brining her another writing, not long before noon. 'A couple wished their new child blessed.'

Arilyne loved it when she blessed newborns. She loved children. And she loved the ceremonies that went with the blessing of a child. It was always such a happy event. In their tradition, music was played, and costumes would be worn. In a mock play, they reenacted the myth of the founder of their empire, who had, as a baby, slain many beasts to end up blessed by the Goddess and given the empire. The mother would carry the baby, and the father protect it.

She waited patiently for the ceremony to begin. And a smile spread across her face when she saw the woman she'd helped a few months before carrying the child.

And then Kiel came, the protector of the child - it's father.

It was hard for her to keep her smile. There was a pain in her chest that she didn't understand. She felt great envy of the woman that was very foreign to her, that she'd never felt before. But she went through with the blessings, smiling at the woman, and Kiel, and the baby boy. And when they left, she continued on with her day.

She didn't sleep again that night. Instead, she escaped to her TARDIS. Three days, she told Kalie, ignoring the questions about the tears in her eyes. Three days, and they'd leave Nydiir...


End file.
